Marked changes in family structures and dynamics have been seen in most societies this century, often as part of wider social transformations. Family changes were especially radical in a few countries where new Marxist regimes sought to institute the ‘socialist family’ as a cornerstone of their revolution. Here, arguably the transformation of the family was as important as the collectivisation of property and labour. Such was the route that Vietnam - already marked by decades of French acculturation - was to follow from the late 1940s until the recent past when sweeping economic change and a move away from collectivism wrought new changes on the Vietnamese family. Perhaps because of Vietnam’s long isolation from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, very little has been written on the Vietnamese family. Moreover, much that has been written is limited to investigating the family itself, often focussing on the situation of women. This monograph takes a quite different perspective, locating the family and especially two of its fundamental relationships - husband-wife and parents-children - within their wider social and historical context. The study thus examines among others how marital partners are chosen, and who; what their various domains are within the family; reproduction and birth control; son preference and ancestor worship; and the role of the state. As such, the study will be of interest not just to sociologists of the family but also to those scholars looking to understand the current social transformation of Vietnam.